News media heeding call to reduce reporting names of mass shooters

Abstract

The U.S. news media has been under pressure to avoid reporting the names of the perpetrators of mass shootings. This research shows a connection between the number of people killed in a mass shooting and the number of times the news media report the perpetrators’ name. It shows that from 2012 to 2021 the news media heeded the call to limit the number of times the name of a mass shooter was reported.

Keywords

Gov’t-press relations/public policy press and society ethics content/coverage reporting techniques

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